Hot on the heels of his lights-to-flag Bahrain triumph,
Felipe Massa proved he is very much still in the groove as the
Formula 1 circus returns to European soil for the first time in over a month – by setting a searing pace on the opening day of testing in Barcelona.
Though he languished right down towards the bottom of the timesheets in the morning, the Brazilian improved substantially in the afternoon – despite decidedly overcast conditions, strong winds and a late shower over the Circuit de Catalunya – to end proceedings almost 2.5 seconds clear of
anyone else.
With the sport's regulations stipulating that teams may only run one car in each test held during the season, Massa tried out new aerodynamic components on
Ferrari's F2008 whilst working on finding the best set-up for the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of the month, round four on the
F1 calendar. In the afternoon, the 26-year-old also did some laps using the 2009-spec Bridgestone tyres, which proved to be almost 1.5 seconds faster than the current rubber.
A surprise second-fastest – and quickest of all at the midday lunch break – was
Honda test driver Alex Wurz, as the Brackley-based squad put their new aero package through its paces, hoping it will prove the catalyst for a significant leap up the pecking order come the next race. The Austrian did, however, have to contend with an early drama when a small fire at the rear of the car quite literally stopped him in his tracks in the morning.
Wurz ultimately wound up half a second ahead of McLaren-Mercedes counterpart Pedro de la Rosa, who completed the second-most laps of anyone present with a marathon 103 on the board as he too spent time evaluating
Bridgestone's 2009 Potenza tyres with his MP4-23 set up as close as possible to next year's regulations.
